Real-Time Detection of Unstable Control Loop Behavior in a Feedback Active Noise Cancellation System for In-Ear Headphones

Abstract

Active noise controls are used in a wide field of applications to cancel out unwanted surrounding noise. Control systems based on the feedback structure however have the disadvantage that they may become unstable during run-time due to changes in the control path—in this context including the listener’s ear. Especially when applied to active noise cancellation (ANC) headphones, the risk of instability is associated with the risk of harmful influence on the listener’s ear, which is exposed to the speaker in striking distance. This paper discusses several methods to enable the analysis of a feedback ANC system during run-time to immediately detect instability. Finally, a solution is proposed, which identifies the open loop behavior parametrically by means of an adaptive filter to subsequently evaluate the coefficients regarding stability.